Boston Museums

The M.I.T. Museum is a window into the world of some of the latest and most exciting research at MIT. Visitors can explore over 150 years of education and research in the forefront of science, engineering, and technology. Located at 265 Massachusetts Avenue, the Museum presents an exciting array of exhibitions, covering everything from artificial intelligence and oceanography, to architecture, three-dimensional holograms, and the world’s largest collection of the much loved kinetic sculptures by Arthur Ganson.

Designed by I.M. Pei, the John F. Kennedy Library was dedicated by President Jimmy Carter and the Kennedy Family in 1979. Located on a ten acre park, the museum is dedicated to the life and legacy of the 35th president of the United States. The library also hosts the Profiles in Courage award, given annually to honor elected public officials.

The Gibson House offers visitors a glimpse into 19th century living in Boston’s Back Bay. As one of the Back Bay’s first residences, the Gibson House was built in the mid-19th century and remains the unspoiled residence of a well-to-do Victorian Boston family. Kitchen, scullery, butler’s pantry, and baths, as well as formal rooms and personal quarters are filled with the Gibsons’ original furniture and personal possessions. Located on 137 Beacon Street, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets, Boston.

Housed in a dazzling edifice, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a treasured centerpiece in Boston’s flourishing Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Featuring a glass-enclosed gallery space cantilevered over the Boston Harbor, the modern façade of the Institute provides an interesting contrast to the historic architectural designs prominent in the city’s skyline. The arrival of the museum in 2006 helped spur the artistic renaissance of this former warehouse district. The ICA sponsors a variety of dynamic permanent and rotating exhibits in its breathtaking waterfront setting.

The New England Sports Museum is located on the 5th and 6th floors of the TD Garden. This Boston attraction features exhibits organized by sport, including hockey (Boston Bruins, Hartford Whalers, and Olympics), basketball (Boston Celtics), football (New England Patriots), and baseball (Boston Red Sox). Concourse galleries also feature boxing, rugby, soccer and artifacts from the Boston Marathon. The museum has life-size statues of Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, and Harry Agganis, an old Boston Garden hockey penalty box, and thousands of other items.

The Boston Children’s Museum is a not-to-be-missed interactive experience for kids. The museum has offered innovative, educational, and fun exhibits for children and families for more than 90 years. Exhibits range from A to Z, focusing on arts, culture, and science. Kids can rock climb, work in a child-size construction zone, paint in an art studio, or even act in a short play.

The Museum of African American History is New England’s largest museum dedicated to telling the story of organized black communities from the Colonial period through the 19th century. A variety of exhibits, programs, events and educational activities are presented that showcase the stories of black families – from how they lived, educated their children, worshiped, worked, created artwork and how they organized politically to advance the cause of freedom. Located within the African Meeting House, which is the oldest African Meeting House in America and inside the Abiel Smith School, which was the first building in the country constructed for the sole purpose of housing a black public school, the buildings themselves are a big part of the rich heritage and incredible past of the African Americans in New England.

Built in 1805 and renovated in 1830, the Nichols House Museum was constructed by architect Charles Bulfinch. The museum takes its name from Rose Standish Nichols, who lived in the house between 1885 and 1960, and represents the lifestyle of the American upper class during that period. The Nichols House Museum offers a room-by-room tour of the four-story row house, which is decorated in original furnishings.

The Mary Baker Eddy Library is a three-story, stained-glass globe with a thirty-foot glass bridge passing through the center. Travel to the center of the world and experience the Mapparium’s three-dimensional 1935 map, with a presentation including words, music, and LED lights to illustrate the development of ideas over time. The Monitor & Quest Galleries, the Hall of Ideas, and interactive exhibits are also open to the public.

Isabella Stewart Gardner, a patron of the arts, established the museum in 1903 when her own property on Beacon Hill became too small for her growing collection. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was designed as a replica of the 15th century Venetian style palazzo. Because Gardner disliked the cold, impersonal experience that museums usually offer, she chose the palazzo-style, a design which provides natural light and garden views. The museum, a must-see Boston attraction, features three floors of galleries surrounding a garden courtyard. The collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, furniture, and decorative arts spanning 300 years, from locations around the world.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the largest museums in the U.S., housing the second largest permanent museum collection in the Western Hemisphere. The museum is affiliated with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in Nagoya, Japan. The Museum of Fine Arts offers a fine permanent collection from the masters of American painting as well as a vast selection of works of art from all important periods; it also hosts special exhibits on loan from around the world.

Boston’s Museum of Science, located on the Charles River Basin, has over 500 interactive exhibits and a variety of live presentations throughout the day. The museum also features a planetarium, New England’s only domed IMAX, a theater of electricity with one of the world’s largest Van de Graaff generators, and exhibits from the original Computer History Museum. Beginning with a collection of men sharing scientific interests in the early 1830’s, the museum still houses some of the artifacts that were originally stored and displayed.

Launched in 1797, the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Crisscrossing the globe, this three-masted frigate participated in the Barbary War off the coast of North Africa and sailed the Caribbean in search of pirates. She earned her nom de guerre Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 when enemy cannonballs bounced off her resilient wooden hull. Docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard, the famous ship is a floating museum open to public. It is also a stop on the on the Freedom Trail and the Old Town Trolley.

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